Road fund firm gets planning approval

Zapi Properties, which is offering to fund a new interchange and disttributor road between the N11 and Greystones in north Co Wicklow, has been granted planning permission for a major new commercial centre to the south of the town.

The decision to grant permission comes just over a week after the Wicklow county manager, Mr Eddie Sheehy, said he had agreed in principle with a group of property developers led by Zapi Properties that it would fund the interchange.

Mr Sheehy insisted that should a formal agreement take place it would in no way influence planning decisions. Councillors are due to meet to discuss the deal on Monday next.

However, a spokesman for Wicklow County Council said yesterday that the decision to grant planning permission to Zapi was in no way connected to the possible deal to fund the interchange and road.

Mr Tom Murphy, the council's senior executive officer in charge of corporate affairs, stressed that the decision to grant planning permission for the commercial development was an entirely separate issue to the proposal to fund the distributor road and interchange.

The proposal, he said, was on the table and, should the council decide to opt for it, it would be on a "without strings" basis.

Yesterday's grant of planning permission to Zapi includes a council levy of €2.2 million towards the provision of the new distributor road.

Other developers in the proposed deal include Mountbrook Homes, the Cosgrave Property Group and the Industrial Development Agency, all of which own large amounts of land in the area which cannot be feasibly developed without the new access.

Under the agreement in principle, money for the interchange would be repaid by the roads authority in about 2004, and the cost of the new road would be recouped though development levies normally payable to the council.

The decision taken this week to grant the planning permission to Zapi Properties, a company associated with Ballymore Homes and a property developer, Mr Sean Mulryan, is now likely to increase the urgency of the new access.

Included in the planning permission are 28 commercial buildings suitable for light industry, offices, a medical centre, a public house, a petrol station and car showrooms. On a neighbouring site Zapi has applied for planning permission for almost 1,500 homes.